Last time I updated was Tues, Aug 12. Since then, a few things have transpired.
Aug 12 - My mom went for colon surgery at St. Michael's Hospital where my brother works for the removal of a portion of her small and large intestines where the tumour originated. I took half the morning off from work to accompany her to the hospital. I then went back to work for the afternoon before heading back to the hospital. I also got a parking ticket because the meter wasn't working. Instead of repeating myself, the rest of the week, while she was at the hospital, I was there every night after work. The surgery appeared to have gone without a hitch. She was weak, but stable.
Aug 13 - She appeared to be in fine spirits and good shape. The surgeon suggested she may eat whatever she feels up to eating. In a rush to recuperate, and under the (false) assumption that the more you consume the faster you'll heal, she began eating whatever she could get her hands on, including Cheerios despite my belief that she should take it easy. She was also receiving guests.
Aug 14 - After consuming a bagel in the morning, she began feeling nauseus in the afternoon and was vomiting after ingesting anything, including water. By the time I arrived at the hospital, she was completely bed-ridden. That evening, my family doctor informed me that she had massive internal bleeding and passed a lot of blood earlier that day. He was panicking and suggesting she may not pass away at any point and asked me to take the next day off work. He also called a bunch of my relatives and I don't know how many of her friends.
Aug 15 - I went to work in the morning to finish up some work with deadlines, but took the afternoon off under the assumption that her condition was fairly critical. After arriving at the hospital, however, my brother told me not to listen to Dr. Wong's bullshit. Basically, the internal bleeding, coupled with the nausea and vomiting, caused my family doctor to panick and overexaggerated her symptoms. It would later be revealed that the symptoms were likely unrelated and caused by different sources. The internal bleeding was the result of blood-thinners perscribed as a preventative measure after surgery to prevent coagulation in the intestines. After the mass amounts of blood passed out, however, they stopped injecting the thinners. However, her hemoglobin count was always stable in the 90 to 100 range (anemic, but not serious,) suggesting her body was not losing blood and thus the doctors and nurses were not fearing for her life. In the end, it was believed the blood came from remenants of the surgery, as the hemoglobin count never dropped to critical levels. The vomiting, on the other hand, was likely the result of an ileus, or a temporary shutdown of the bowels. Personally, I believe it was caused by her trying to eat too much, too fast, and her digestive tracks wasn't able to handle it so soon after surgery. Having no other recourse, the only other way for food to get out is to come back up.
Aug 16 - I went to the hospital early in the morning and stayed until fairly late at night. My brother had been there most of the days and it's clearly palpable that he was beginning to tire. My mom appeared better, and they finally began listening to me about eating cautiously.
Aug 17 - My mother began eating solid food again, albeit mostly soft food. Since my CMA exam was on Wednesday (Aug 20,) I took a good portion of the afternoon studying for the exam. Her condition seemed to have stabilized and as soon as she was off IV, the doctors suggested she could go home. According to my family doctor, however, the surgeon suggests the cells have already reached the aeorta and the prospects of recovery looks very bleak. I'm not sure if I trust his melodramatic overreactions, however, and would like to discuss it with my brother first before going into widespread panic.
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